An Unrelenting Horse Cart
by BlackWreath
Summary: In which Neji returns from a mission, reflects on certain memories his serious injuries have evoked, provides company with Hinata, and finally expresses his love towards his feisty, yet loyal comrade, Tenten.


In which Neji returns from a mission, reflects on the memories his serious injuries have evoked, provides company with Hinata, and finally expresses his love towards his feisty comrade, Tenten.

* * *

A crack of thunder rolled across the skies. Even in the comfort of his room, Neji shuddered. An unlucky fellow caught out in the storm would suffer miserably indeed. He took the smoldering mug in his hands and drank from it, relishing the heat that trickled down his throat.

"This is medicine for your wounds," his uncle, Hiashi, had said, with a twinge of concern in his white-grey eyes. Neji had sustained serious injuries after a mission, from rescuing Tenten from a fatal blow. His comrade harboured much guilt after the incident, and sought to repay him in anyway possible. But he had to gently refuse her, since the injury had abruptly evoked memories of a harrowing chapter during the Fourth World War. He was deeply troubled by this playing out in his conscience, keenly aware that it was three days to the full waxing of the moon - around the same time he had lunged in front of Naruto and Hinata to save them from projectiles. He was reflecting rather more than usual even while the bitter taste of the medicine assaulted his tongue, and his thoughts raced back, with a shiver, to the days of intensive care he had undergone after that, endless flurries of doctors and nurses, all white as death, administering doses of drugs that sent him spiraling into fits of sleep, whispering in horrified mutters at his wrangled internal organs and the faint murmur of the heart monitor.

He clenched his eyes shut as thunder galloped across the sky, the brief illumination of electricity before that revealing a pale, sturdy figure before the mirror, hunched over a pillow. For the sake of tidiness and his peace of his mind, he had roped all his hair back into one ponytail, disliking the caressing sensations they would bring to his neck and cheeks if he were to let his hair loose. They were like ghostly dances scattering across his skin, making him crawl with fear and loneliness. He hated the bandages firmly wound around his ribs, for they reminded him of the susceptibility of human life. His life was deeply entwined with that of Hinata's, what with living under the same roof with her as well as the bevvy of relatives and attendants, and to him was entrusted the safeguarding of her life. He could disregard his own life, verily. This resentful thought jerked him back into wakefulness.

From there, an inner stirring of restlessness brought him to his feet. He edged out of the bed and padded his way to the door, grabbing his coat on the way. The thought of a warm bath eased his nerves and placated his numbed, suitably frazzled mind. He would find meditative peacefulness there, all alone, for who would seek that frigid room built separately from the main building, much less endure the wait for the water to heat up?

Whistling, he switched on the lamp of the private bathing quarters of the Cadet branch of the clan, and proceeded to warm the water in a huge, cement pool in the middle of the room. Fidgeting clumsily with his tunic, he undid it gently, for any unnecessary movement caused pain around his diaphragm, which had narrowly escaped impalement. He threw some water on a mound of rocks stored in an open wooden crate at the corner of the room, and the water hissed on the heated rocks, evaporating instantly into a cloud of steam. Eventually, the entire room was flooded with warm air, replacing the cold, draughty feeling in it. Neji stepped out of his trousers, tied a cloth around his waist and stepped into the water with a stool, making sure his ribs did not enter the water.

And he did not know what to do next, for in the next moment, he heard a knock upon the door.

"Who is it?" he rasped.

"It's Hinata, Neji-san. May I join you?"

There was a silence from within. Inside, Neji folded his legs in and stared in disbelief at the door. Females and males had separate bathing compartments. It was extremely rude to bathe together unless they were husband and wife.

"It's cold outside. I won't stay for long," she spoke in a whisper, drawing the robes closer around her. The wind had started to whip her hair, and the first drops of rain pinched her feet.

"Oh...come in then."

The door panel was slid aside, and cold wind fanned inwards as steam churned out, eliciting a series of coughs from Neji.

"Sorry," Hinata apologised, "You...you won't mind me here right? I just...I can't bear the loneliness…"

"It's okay," he said, glancing at her with a pinkish pallor on his face. Perhaps he was flushed from the heat, but he was more flummoxed about the logistical considerations of the new turn of events. He stood up awkwardly in the tub and sloshed over to a shelf affixed to the wall, overlooking the enormous bath. Picking up a kaleidoscopic ball of soap from the mantelpiece, he informed Hinata pensively, "I'll drop in a soap bomb, all right?"

"Sure," she intoned, and then turned a bright shade of red. "Could you close your eyes, please?"

"Oh, yes," Neji grunted, and dropped in the bomb. It burst in a swell of lurid colours that streamed in a circle of gradually paling streaks. Then he quickly turned to face the wall.

A ruffling of the water informed him of the inhabitant's successful entry into the tub, and he waited some more, till he heard a gentle, affirmative noise.

After several moments of silence, Neji asked, noting the paleness of her face bobbing at the water's surface, "Are you all right, Hinata-sama?"

"I'm all right. Actually, n-no," she whimpered, staring quite despairingly at him. For the life of him, he could not decipher the reason.

"Why?"

Hinata inclined her head towards him, searching his face in a worried, concerned manner. Her eyes trained on his lined, tensed face, noticing the way his hand held a part of his lower abdomen, which was engulfed in white bandages. He had conveniently dragged a low stool into the bath, and was sitting on it to avoid the water ruining the bandages or diluting whatever healing poultice had been applied to the ghastly wounds underneath. She had seen them when Sakura was attending to him. He looked pale and exhausted.

"You're badly injured," she answered after a sigh.

"Oh, don't worry," he returned, stroking his stomach twice to emphasise a point - look, it doesn't hurt. Hinata glanced at it again.

"You shouldn't go on anymore missions for at least two weeks."

Neji let slip a bitter chuckle. "Jonins are really busy at this time of the year, Hinata-sama. More bandits abound in the countryside during the harvesting period."

"You shouldn't overwork yourself, Neji-san-"

"You too," he said, if only to divert the conversation back to the heir of the Main family. He was feeling rather uncomfortable in close proximity with his cousin, and sincerely wished that at his vantage, he would not see the curvatures on her chest, the beginnings of twin swells of plump flesh breaking the water's surface. This made him think of Tenten, whom he had shared some time with after the war - not in this indecent manner, of course. It was only because the particular physical quality of a female's body had nudged a softer part of his memory, and led him to reminisce about the one he regarded most fondly.

All of a sudden, there was a loud crash outside.

Both inhabitants of the private bathhouse turned instinctively towards the sound. Neji was alert, adrenaline coursing through his body as he heard the loud bray of a horse outside, followed by a bone-rattling clap of thunder. Hinata took advantage of the superficial instant of privacy created to grab a towel and wind it around her body. She stepped gingerly out of the tub.

"Byakugan."

A shrill whinny, another loud crash, and Neji lunged sideways and out of the tub, flattening his cousin against the wall. Not a moment too soon, a large stone cart pummeled in through the wooden beam walls of the sauna house, a structure situated on the southernmost locale of the compound, outside of which immediately stood the outermost wooden gates. There was still more.

A horse was dragged inwards, tail-first, flailing in vain against the momentum of the cart, but attached helplessly to reins of leather. Neji jumped up from his position. He swiftly cut the cords with chakra in his palms, causing the horse to lose its propelling force and tumble ungracefully back onto its haunches. Several loud cracks sounded as the cart connected with the wall opposite its rogue entry. The horse sat, panting heavily and whinnying nervously on the slippery tiles of the bathhouse.

Neji raised his eyebrows. A ninja came whirling in the walls, cursing softly under her breath.

"Is anyone hurt?" The figure stopped short when she saw the two of them stranded in the corner, appearing as dumbstruck as the horse. The large stone cart had bored halfway through the wooden archway of the entrance, lodging itself there neatly, with the door mangled right off its hinges. Around the cart, signs of severe demolishment signalled an impending collapse of the entire structure. It gave one tottering sway.

Neji yelled, "Watch out! Get out!"

He yanked on Hinata's arm and set off towards the other ninja - it was Tenten, he realised, with her face hidden in shadow - grabbed her around the waist and launched the three of them out into the pelting rain, just as several crashes reverberated into the air and the horse within sailed out nimbly in the nick of time. The wooden shack shivered, and was still.

"Oh!" he heard Tenten murmur in shock. She was staring glassily at the sauna, panting rather hardly.

"I tried to stop it!" she shouted, stamping her foot. Both Hinata and Neji jumped at this, watching her wring her hands in distress, but one by one, they broke into smiles. They were barely clothed, and were shivering in the storm, but somehow, this moment warmed them in their hearts.

"Who does it belong to?" Neji enquired, gazing coolly and amusedly at the distraught Tenten.

"I'm so sorry, I tried to divert its course from going over the edge of the cliff, but instead the horse skidded and the cart rolled right into your house!"

Villagers with umbrellas and raincoats were starting to gather around the hole in the wooden fence, helping a dazed farmer entangled among the bushes to stagger to his feet. He did not appear hurt, and the situation quickly surrendered itself to the capable hands of the Konoha villagers.

"Doesn't matter," Neji said, "Are you okay?"

Tenten faced him properly then.

"Yes, I am. What about the two of you? Let's go inside quickly!"

As Hinata and Neji fetched their garments and towels, Tenten dropped onto the floor and sighed loudly. It had been an arduous day for her, and she had just returned from a C-ranked mission. Most of the day had comprised trading insults with brazen, defensive farmers in rural towns. Their cracked, lined faces and broad, roughened silhouettes were a sight she would not forget. Just then, the corridor to the dining room glowed magisterially. Both Hinata and Neji appeared, bearing three oil lamps in their hands, the long shadows of the two Hyuga members trailing after them.

They settled around the main table on the cold tatami mats, the surroundings lit with a warm glow from the oil lamps. After some chatting, a unanimous decision culminated in the only male arising from the comfortable silence to make hot milk for all of them. The females traded muted gossip as Neji left for the kitchen. He returned soon, sitting down with a content expression on his face.

After they had sipped their milk, Hinata, looking thoroughly exhausted and excited at the same time, and murmured that she would leave for bed, so that Neji and Tenten were left thoroughly alone.

"How're you?" Tenten asked, eyeing Neji with a soulful look in her eyes.

"I'm okay," he returned, smiling very slightly. He shifted so that he was angled more directly towards her.

"You're going to have to rebuild that bathhouse," Tenten said sheepishly, and gave a nervous giggle. Her slight form heaved with a yawn as she massaged her watering eyes. "Milk always makes me tired."

Neji chuckled, and drew up his arm to hold her chin. This action made Tenten startle considerably, but she relaxed into the small embrace in a remarkable time. Likewise, Neji only realised the impulse he had acted upon a second too late, but, with the delayed confirmation now playing uponTenten's expressive face, he started to relax as well.

"Thank you for visiting me everyday," he uttered, smiling with a gaze that focused directly on her eyes.

"That's...my pleasure," Tenten mumbled, a smile carving an impish look on her face. A dimple appeared, and vanished just as it had come.

"I love you, Tenten," he said artlessly, bringing his other hand tenderly forward to rest on her hand on the table.

Tenten looked up, fully alert. A sparkle of realisation lit her eyes, reflected and pronounced by the dancing, wavering candlelight.

"Me too," she whispered, and rested her head slowly onto his chest.

When she looked up again, his lips were very near to hers. They each sucked in a breath, gathering from the warmed air a semblance of courage for this new development in their relationship, and they leaned in to kiss the other soundly, gently, just as a pair of doves mate together for long-lasting eternity.


End file.
